Kitsap County, WA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)
Barking dog rules in Kitsap County, WA, also called nuisance dog, dog noise, or excessive barking ordinances, define when a barking dog becomes a code violation and how complaints are handled.
Key Facts
- Noise threshold
- 15+ min/hour on 3+ days in 7 days
- Built-in defenses
- illness, injury, abuse, trespass
- Exempt uses
- permitted farms, kennels, vet clinics
- Two-neighbor complaint path
- matching 30-day written ledgers
- Single-neighbor path
- 60-day ledger plus prior warning
- Base penalty
- up to $250 civil infraction, RCW 7.80.120
Summary
Kitsap County treats chronic barking as a civil infraction, not a free-for-all: § 7.14.030(2)(A) bans letting an animal's noise "unreasonably disturb or interfere with the peace" for more than fifteen minutes in any hour, on three or more separate days within a seven-day stretch, unless it stems from injury, abuse, trespass, or comes from a permitted farm, kennel, or vet clinic.
For any person to keep or own any animal which by its barking, howling, baying, squealing, crowing, crying, bleating, screeching, or making any other noise that, by its volume or frequency, unreasonably disturbs or interferes with the peace of any person for more than fifteen minutes of any one-hour period of any day, on three or more separate days during a sequential seven-day period. This subsection shall not apply if the owner or keeper of the animal can substantiate that such animal noise was caused by an illness or injury to the animal, the torment or abuse of the animal by others, or by willful trespass on the property by others. This subsection also shall not apply to farms in permitted zones (as defined and described in Sections 17.455.020 and 17.455.030), commercial pet facilities, animal welfare facilities, veterinary hospitals, or grooming parlors, provided those entities are otherwise in compliance with the Kitsap County Code including, but not limited to, Section 7.08.040.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: rev 4864424; v0 updated 2025-12-08; through 12-08-2025).
Full Breakdown
" The county built in real defenses: the rule does not apply if the owner can show the noise came from the animal's illness or injury, from someone tormenting or abusing the animal, or from a trespasser on the property, and it never applies to farms in permitted agricultural zones, licensed commercial pet facilities, animal welfare facilities, veterinary hospitals, or grooming parlors that are otherwise code-compliant. 030(2)(B). Animal control officers can only act if they personally witness all three required noise intervals across the seven-day period themselves; or if they receive separate written complaints from at least two neighboring property owners, each of whom personally documented three or more disturbances within the same thirty-day window on a written ledger of times, dates, and durations; or if a single neighbor submits a ledger documenting five or more disturbances over sixty days, in which case officers must first issue a written warning and can escalate to enforcement only if that same neighbor documents two more disturbances after the warning. 010.
Violations & Fines
A substantiated animal noise complaint is a civil infraction under § 7.14.030(2), chargeable as a Class 1 civil infraction under RCW 7.80.120, which caps the "maximum penalty and default amount" at $250 before statutory assessments. Officers cannot cite on a single complaint alone: they need their own three-interval observation, two neighbors' matching thirty-day ledgers, or one neighbor's sixty-day ledger plus a prior written warning, and repeat violations in a calendar year can lead to impoundment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many days of barking does it take to violate Kitsap's noise rule?
Can I report my neighbor's barking dog directly to Kitsap animal control?
Are farms exempt from Kitsap's animal noise rule?
What happens after repeated barking violations?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kitsap County
Compare Kitsap County to another location·View the Washington noise ordinances overview
See something wrong?
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.